Labour Pains
by LauraCynthia
Summary: McCoy becomes the first Starfleet doctor in history to deliver Gorn babies. This is how I imagine it happened. Based on the 2013 video game, but since it was referenced in the movies and is part of the same world...


**The unseen baby Gorn birth scene from the video game and referenced in _Into Darkness_. Any medical errors are mine, or just the way Gorn biology works. Thanks and enjoy.**

McCoy trudged back to the ridge, his head low, deep in thought. _Phew….nearly bluffed myself over a cliff there. _The arm sails on his wingsuit fluttered in the breeze, and he crossed his arms. _That was pretty low, Len, throwing your completion of school in "Cadet" Kirk's face like that. But did you see the look he gave me? Priceless. _He kicked a stone that skittered sideways and flew into a small hole one could easily turn an ankle in. The damaged shuttle lay just ahead, seared and pitted by the tower that had shot it down.

He turned his head just in time to see the captain and Spock disappear over the edge. _Glad it's not me…so glad._ McCoy continued forward until he reached the shuttle's door. He pulled out his tricorder and accessed the lock. With a _whoosh _and a _hiss_, the side door opened. Sulu was sprawled out on the floor under the controls. He slid out, a small wrench in his hand and a smudge of silver grease on his cheek. "Back already, Doctor?"

"What do you mean, already?" McCoy asked as he ducked through the doorway. "Where do you think I went?" He leaned back against the wall. The security team that had accompanied them were preoccupied; one man appeared to be running a diagnostic and calling out numbers to another who was standing on a chair, untangling burnt wires. He noticed the faint smell of combustion in the air for the first time.

Sulu extended his hand, indicating something on McCoy's person. He looked down at his torso. _Oh, yeI. The wingsuit._ "Oh, that. Didn't go. With Spock and Kirk playing Birdman and y'all ripping this thing apart, _somebody's_ got to work on the antidote. We got a sick crew….hundreds of infected roaming the halls like lunatic zombies, burning up with fever in sickbay. Not to mention getting blasted by evil lizard people! It's the apocalypse up there…."

Sulu raised his palm like a traffic cop and offered a tight smile. "Don't need to convince me, Doctor. You do your thing and we'll do ours. Before you know it, this'll only be a memory." He nodded towards the small lab area in the back.

_Right. Just like a bad dream._ McCoy closed his eyes. _Let's just hope we wake up from it. First things first; get this dumb wingsuit off..._

* * *

_Where are you when I need you? _McCoy tapped the blank screen again, as if by doing so could make the system restart. _Thought I had something there….bet the stupid program didn't even save my data._ He removed the vial of Gorn blood from the machine and swore softly under his breath. "Sulu?" He'd heard him shouting something before heading out the door earlier, but didn't think much of it. _Probably found a flower to play she-loves-me, she-loves-me-not or some such thing._ _I'll kill him._ His boots clunked against the floor as he walked back to the passenger area. "Rountree? You seen Sulu anyplace?"

The red shirted crewman took a bite of his energy bar. "No, Doctor. I thought he was with you."

"Didn't he tell you where he was going to be? My computer's acting up again. I've got lives to save, I can't work like this!"

"No and I'm not a mind reader, Doctor. But I could take a look at your system if you like," Rountree said, stretching his legs out before moving to stand up.

"Thanks, but no thanks. You look a little peaked. Keep up that blood sugar, you hear?" McCoy jogged back through the shuttle to the door and opened it. He stuck his head out. _There_… Sulu was crouched by the nose of the shuttle, inspecting the damage. "How bad is it?"

"That tower really did a number on our systems. Engine's stalled, fuses blown…. " He straightened up. It's going to take a little longer than I thought to get it going. We're making good progress, though. You?" He wiped his hands on his sweater, shivering.

"That darn analysis unit of mine keeps shutting down. I thought I had the problem licked, but…" Sulu was not listening to him. Instead, his troubled gaze appeared to be focused somewhere behind McCoy. "You listenin' to me at all, or should I repeat myself?"

Sulu swallowed. "Thought I saw something behind that rock. There…" He pointed and McCoy strained to see what he was looking at.

"Probably one of them Lymax again. That last one gave me the willies…"

"Doctor! LOOK OUT!" Sulu tackled McCoy to the ground. They landed behind the shuttle with a loud _THUD!_ just as a burst of weapon fire blasted the dirt where they had just been standing. Both men coughed as a cloud of dust and smoke rose around them. _A char mark….that could've been us. _McCoy lifted his head and finally saw it.

A distinctly reptilian head peeked over the boulder, eyes coldly assessing their position. _And me unarmed, too. _He shoved his hand down in his pockets, searching for his communicator. _No...I remember...I left it inside. Of all the times... _

"You okay?" Sulu had moved to McCoy's right side. He lay on his belly, arms extended forward, phaser in hand.

"Never better."

"Good. Come on out, baby. Let me get a clear shot." His eyes never left the Gorn. "She's not going to give up easily."

"She?" McCoy looked over at him.

"Fairly obvious, Doctor." Indeed. The creature had a figure. McCoy shivered.

"You think there are more?"

"Nah, just the one. C'mon...any time now..." Sulu adjusted himself slightly on the rough terrain.

Another blast arced over their heads, and she disappeared behind the rock again. "She's being pretty cautious. We're stuck here. Where's that security team? Can't they take the blasted cotton out their ears long enough to- Sulu?" But he was already halfway between the shuttle and the rock, belly-crawling through the wet snow on the creature's blind side. _Fool. What does he think he's-_ A low growl interrupted his thought. _She'll see him, shoot him, and then I'm next. We're doomed. Wish I had a_ _gun..._

Sulu edged closer to the female Gorn. She whipped her head around and raised the weapon. But Sulu was faster. His phaser shot a pulse of energy at the creature. With a shudder, she dropped to the ground in a heap.

McCoy stood up and walked over to where Sulu stood, his arms shaking from adrenaline crash as he held the gun out in front of him. "Nice shot." He put his hand on Sulu's shoulder. He visibly relaxed. McCoy bent down by the creature's side. _Still breathing._

"Be careful, she's only stunned."

"I know." He scanned the prone Gorn with his tricorder. For the first time, he noticed that her belly was visibly distended. And twitching. _Almost as if... _The scan confirmed it.

"Congratulations, mommy..." he muttered under his breath, "not long now."

"What's that?"

"She's pregnant, Hikaru...and I think your stun shot shocked her into labour." He stood up and brushed the dust off his pants. "Trouble is, she can't deliver unconscious. And I _really_ don't want to wake her up. Do you?" He knelt down at her head. "You take her legs. We've got to get her inside the shuttle."

"But-"

"Don't argue. Just move." They lifted the pregnant Gorn up and began to carry her slowly towards the shuttle. "And when we get inside, wash your hands." Sulu looked at him as if he'd just announced his intentions to quit Starfleet to pursue a career as a Vulcan monk. _Maybe I am crazy..._ "What are you complaining about? You got me into this; the least you can do is help."

* * *

"Almost through..." McCoy deftly guided the medical tool as it cut through layers of subcutaneous fat and muscle. "Why couldn't you just lay eggs like other reptiles?" He passed it to Sulu, who stood by his side. "Most medical students don't control their first surgery jitters as well as you do. I'm impressed. You make one heck of a nurse."

"Thanks...I think." He smiled.

"There." McCoy sealed off the blood vessels and pulled the Gorn's flesh apart, exposing the womb. Several small shapes squirmed around inside it. He made a small incision and removed the sac of amniotic fluid whole. "Take this while I close her up." Sulu transferred the writhing babies to a nearby table.

Three minutes of repair work followed. "Well, I don't know what's normal for her," McCoy said, as he made the final closure, "but she seems pretty stable. Dunno why I'm doing this. Captain's probably going to shoot her later anyway." He scrubbed his hands. "I'll take a look at the young in a minute." He rinsed out the sink and deposited the babies, sac and all into the basin. With a well-placed puncture, the fluid sac burst, and 3 slimy baby Gorn were freed.

"Ugly, aren't they?" he laughed as he turned to his right. Sulu had his hands on his hips and was studying the little creatures with interest. "But alive and kicking." He picked up one of the babies and held it in the air. "Imagine finding one of these little beasts in an isolette-" The infant opened its jaws wide and snapped them shut again on his left hand.

"OW! Hey! Why you little-! Argh..." McCoy deposited it back in the sink next to its siblings. It continued to snap at the air. He clenched his hand into a fist and brought it close to his body.

"You okay?"

"No, I am most definitely NOT okay! Did you see what that hideous - I could've lost my hand! Ugh..." He examined it critically, flexing and turning it in the light. Several bite marks dimpled his skin, a few oozing blood. He shot a glare at the Gorn baby. "Great. Now I've probably got your nasty little virus, too." He scanned his wounds before cleaning and sealing them. "Phew. Nothing. Small blessings..." He grabbed a hypo off a shelf and tranquilized the little terrors.

Hands on his hips, he turned to Sulu, who was trying and failing to keep the smile off his face. McCoy scowled. "What are you grinning about? You've got work to do. My analysis unit, the shuttle...but first, you find Rountree and Walker and tell them to get these menaces out of here."

"Yes, Doctor, I'll tell them." Sulu grinned. "Everything." He walked towards the back of the shuttle. McCoy closed his eyes and sighed.

_Wish Jim was here...At least **he'd** sympathize with me..._


End file.
